Automatic whistle.



H0. 849,661. PATENTED APR. 9, 1907. W. M. & A. M. COX.

AUTOMATIC WHISTLE.

APPLICATION FILED umzz. 1901.

. quir ed by law and UNITE WALTER ra'rnn r oi rion.

AUTOMATIC WHISTLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 9, 1907.

Application filed January 22,1907, 'Serial No. 353,533.

Be it known that .we. \YALTER M. Cox and Airriicu M. (ox, ,-i=.izens of the United States,

residing at (Iynthiana. in the county of Harrisen and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Autoinatic \Yhistles, of which the following is a s 'iecifi(:atioii.

Engine-drivers of railway-trains are required by law to sound the locomotivewl'stle before arriving at crossings and other points along the road, and when the engineer is depended not been complied with, resulting in accidents that have been the cause of severe or fatal injuries and also in pecuniary loss to the raiiways consequent upon damage suits.

With these conditions in view our invention has for its object an improved device which when applied to a locomotive will antomatically sound the whistle at the point rehold the whistle open or sounding until the steam or other pressure is removed therefrom by. the manual operation of the engineer. By this means the man element is entirely done away with as far as the positive actuation is concerned, which is clearly a desideratum in railroading, and releases the engineer from the responsibility, it being well recognized that without such an automatic mechanism the engineer might where the whistle is to be pass the point blown through carelessness or for some other reasoin for the engineer is frequently unable to see the posts or other signals set for the blowing of the whistle, this condition being especially true at night.

For a f ll understanding of the invention and the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the means for effecting the result reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in wnich-- Figure l is a side elevation of a locomotive supplied with the improvements of our inven- Mg. 2 is aside elevation of the autotion. inatic mechanism on an enlarged scale. Fig.

3 is a detailviewillustrating the modification.

herein specifically referred to. I

orresponding and hko parts are reierred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates a locoinotive-wliistle, which may 7 on to sound the whistle it is well 1 known that this requirement has very often be of any desired design or construction and operated by either steam or air pressure. 2 designates the valve of the whistle, and 3 l a stand or bracket, which is secured to and l supported by the base of the whistle and which is provided with two arms 4-. and 5, one above the other. To the arm 4 a lover (5 is fulcrumcd, said lever being of substantially inverted-U shape, with two spaced arms 7 and 8 facing dowinvardly, and the lever is attached to the arm 4 i i'h. ""ii' beingpivotl ed intermmliatc of its ends to the said arm 4. j A cord 9 or the like ii'iaybe secured to the lower end of the rear arm s of the lever (B, said cord extending backwardly from said arr; in the cab and arranged for manual actuation l by the engineer, so that the whistle may be sounded when necessary irrespective of the automatic mechanism.

T he arm 7 of the lever (B is shorter than the arm 8, as illustrated in the drawings, and has pivotally secured bya loose joint to its lower j end a finger 10, the joint being indicated at 1 11 The finger 10 is fulcruincd intexaediate of its ends on the arm 5 of the br cket 3 and 1 extends downwardly into proper operative position to the valve 12 designates a trip device, which in the present instance is in the form of a rod pivl oted intermediate ofits ends at the point 13 j alongside of the boiler and extending downwai'dly toward the track, where its lower end is designed to be struck by a trip-block 14-, l which may be secured to one of the rails of l the track or to the ties thereof or on the ground. The upper end of the track-rod 12 l projects into the space between the arm 8 of the levei 6 and the pivoted finger 10 of said i lever. l A link 15 is pivotally connected at its front l end to the upper end of the trip-rod 12 and j extends rearwardly into the cab, where its rear end is pivotally connected through a hand-lever 16, provided with one .or more i hand-retracted detents arranged for looking ei'igagement with the toothed quadrant 17. In the practical operation of our improved automatic whistle 'aotuating mechanism 5 when the locomotive is traveling forward the j trip-block 14 (which is located at the requisite distance in advance of the crossing or i the like) will strike the lower end of the triprod 12 and rock the same about its axis 13, j so as to move the upper end of said trip-rod forwardly, the said end of the trip-rod therel by actuating the whistle. During this forward movement oi the upper end of the triprod 12 it is manifest that the link-rod 15 Wlll be pulled forwardly, as will likewise the hand lever 16, and accordingly by means of the detents of said hand-lever the latter will be engaged with the quadrant 17 at a point in advance of the normal or neutral vertical position, and thereby hold the whistle open and sounding until the engineer shall have turned the parts back to the normal. position through the instrumentality oi the handlever. I v

If the locomotive be traveling backwardly, the trip-block 14 will rock the rod 12 so that its upper end will be carriedback into engagement with the lower end of the arm 8. This willresult in carrying the lever 6 rearwardly, and therefore the lower end of the arm 7 will, by means of the loose joint 11, I

in turn carry the finger 10 about its rulcrum on the arm 5 ofthe bracket 3 and will cause the lower end of the finger 1G to be moved forwardly, and thereby sound the whistle. In this operation also it is obvious that the hand-lever 16 will be moved rearwardly beyond its neutral position and hold the parts locked with the whistle continuously sound ing until stopped by the manipulation before describe If desired,as shown in Fig. 3, we may substitutefor or use in connection with the handlever 16 a steam or air cushion 18, so connected to the triprod 12 that its piston may be readily drawn out when the trip-rod is positively actuated and adapted to draw the --trip-rod back again slowly as the steam or air exhausts from the cylinder, the cylinder bein pivoted with a petcock or other device well own in this connection. By the regulation of the petcock it is obvious that the slow closing of the'whistle may be regulated and the whistle kept blowing for long or short intervals. I If this device be used in connection with the hand-lever 16, it is of cgurse essential that the detents of said lever be locked in retracted position, so that they will Y not interfere with the actuation of the slow being effected automatically and with a construction embodying comparatively few and simple parts, thereby avoiding difiiculties before pointed out and other resultant acci lents. As the whistle. will continue sound ing until shut oil by some one in the l'ocorno tive-cab, the attention of the engine or fire man will be forcibly called to the fact that a crossing or other dangerous point in the road is being approached and the occupants of the cab will always be on the alert.

If desired, the air-cushion 18 may be arranged on opposite sides of the trip-rod 12.

By then opening either the front or rear pet cock, according as the train is going forward or backward, the air in the closed cylinder will let the lever back gradually to its place, while the other, being wide open, will not re tard the entrance of the plunger in the cylinder and not hinder the trip-rod from'being rocked.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. In an apparatus of the character set forth, the combination with a whistle and its valve, of a bracket supported contiguous to said "whistle and provided with two arms,

one above the other, an inverted-U-shaped lever having one of its arms bifurcated intermediate of its ends, upon the upper arm of the bracket, a finger fulcrumed intermediate of its ends on the lower arm of the bracket. and having a jointed connection with the lower extremity of the fulcrumed arm of the lever, the lower end of said finger being adapted to actuate the said valve, and a trip-rod ada ted to be tripped by a device along the track and having its upper end extending into the space between the said lever and the lower end of the said finger.

2. The combination with a whistle and its valve, of a bracket secured to the base of the whistle and provided with two arms, a lever having spaced arms, one of which is fulcrumed intermediate of its ends on one of the arms of the bracket, a finger fulorumed intermediate of its ends on the other arm of the bracket and having a loose connection into the space between the lever and its fin ger, means for manually rocking said lever to actuate the whistle independent of the trip-rod, and a manually-released locking device connected with said trip-rod and adapted to hold the same in the position in which it is swung by the tripping device.

3. In combination with a whistle and its valve, of a lever fulcrumed in proximity to the valve and provided with a finger with which it has a jointed connection, said finger being arranged to actuate the valve, the said lever and its finger having different fulcrum-points and the finger being adapted to-be moved into operative engagement with the valve when the lever is rocked rearwardly, and a trip-rod adapted to be rocked by a device along the track, the upper end of said triprod passing into the space between the lever and its finger and arran ed to engage the lever to rock it rearward y when. moved in valve, of a finger pivoted intermediate of valve and adapted to actuate the same when one direction and to engage the finger of the device along the track, one end of the triplever when moved in the opposite direction. rod passing between the lever and said fin- 4. The combinationwith a whistle and its moved in one direction and to engage the fin er when moved in the opposite direction. 7 n testimony whereof we affix our signa tures in presence of two witnesses.

WALTER M. COX [L. s.] ARTHUR M. COX. [L. s.]

its ends with one .end in proximity to the such lower en is rocked in one direction, a lever having a loose conneotionwith the other end of said finger and adapted to rock. the l same, said lever being pivoted with an arm Witnesses: r spaced from the first-named end of said fin- S. M. ADAMS, ger and a trip-rod adapted to be swung by a S. B. HARDIN.

ger and adapted to rock the lever when 

